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Onward (2020)
A Solid Pixar Movie
There is a whole lot of good in this movie, and not much that is bad, which is what we have come to expect from Pixar. The animation, world, and character designs are so well done, and very creative, definitely some of the most creative creations that I have seen in a Pixar movie. The film also doesn't overstay its welcome, coming in at just over an hour and a half. The acting is great, with Tom Holland and Chris Pratt in the lead roles. While it is not a live action film and just voice acting, their characters have a lot of great chemistry in the film, and it makes for a good family story that can teach younger children lessons that they will remember for the rest of their lives. While this is a good film, there are some things that keep it from being a perfect film. Like I said, this movie is a good length, however there are some scenes throughout that drag on, and could have had better pacing. Much of the film is also cliched, and pretty formulaic in terms of how the story plays out, making it very predictable, similar to how most other children's movies are these days.
While Onward is a little bit too predictable and formulaic, it has many great qualities to it that helps it to stand out from most other animated films that come out these days. It is entertaining, and can be very emotional and touching at times, and makes for a great family adventure.
Unhinged (2020)
Russell Crowe is Scary
Prior to seeing this film, I never knew that Russell Crowe would be capable of playing the bad guy, as he has always typically been the protagonist, or a good guy in pretty much all of his other films, but he really does a fantastic job in this film. I would also say that he sort of carries this film, as he is not only the best actor in it, but he also gets many of its best scenes. This film is a lot better than I originally thought it would be in many ways, as it is constantly exciting all the way through, well acted, and has great special and practical effects. However, the one major flaw is the choices that just about all of the characters other than Russell Crowe's make. Basically, everyone in this movie are completely stupid, especially the protagonist. Towards the beginning of the film, after having honked at Crowe, she has the chance to apologize, but instead decides to verbally assault him, which is what causes him to ultimately go on his rampage. Instead of going to a police department or getting help from someone, she is constantly running away and hiding in different locations for short periods of time. She also makes several careless mistakes throughout the film that cause even more loss of life. Ultimately, she plays a large role in the deaths of several people throughout this film. Unfortunately, her lack of judgement throughout the film sort of takes the audience out of it sometimes just because it is so unbelievable at times, which really hurts parts of the film throughout. Apart from that, this is director Derrick Bortes first major motion picture, and I would say that he does a fairly good job with what is typically a pretty basic premise for a film.
Super 8 (2011)
One of Abrams' Best Films
After having watched this film, I can't say that I really have a whole lot of issues with it. Much of the film is pretty flawless in my eyes. The child actors are great, some of whom have gone on to have big careers, there is some really clever humor in the film, while also being able to remain serious and intense, and the plot of the film itself is so well executed, and does a good job at putting some clever spins on what would normally be considered to be a pretty basic plot. The two biggest stars to come out of this film were Joel Courtney, and Elle Fanning, and they also happen to be the two main characters. Courtney went on to star in the Netflix film series The Kissing Booth, which is among their more popular films, while Fanning went on to star in films such as, The Beguiled, Maleficent, and All The Bright Places, just to name a few. This film also happens to star one of my favorite actors, Kyle Chandler, who is best known for his role in the TV show Friday Night Lights. He plays the father in this film, and definitely does a great job like he always does. One other thing worth pointing out is that this film is directed by J.J. Abrams, who is known for directing several other installments in massive science fiction franchises. He has directed two of the newer Star Trek films, as well as two of the newer Star Wars films. He has also directed one of the Mission Impossible films, so he has quite a track record. He has also been a producer on over seventy other projects, however I think that this film is one of his best works, and is definitely a great hidden gem.
Mignonnes (2020)
Tried to Send a Good Message, Failed Miserably
Let me just start off by saying that this film is quite literally borderline child pornography. Several times throughout the film the girls dance seductively, sometimes in front of grown men, there are close up shots of their private parts, and they engage in activities that no eleven year old should be doing, especially in a film. I will give the film some credit however, when the children are actually given real scenes to act in, as opposed to just dancing seductively, they do very well. They are all relatively unknown actors, which can always be risky, especially with child actors, but they all give fairly believable performances. From the way critics talked about the film, it sounded as if it was trying to get across some sort of feminist message, but in my eyes, as well as the eyes of most casual viewers, the directors of the film, Maïmouna Doucouré and Denny Shoopman, do the exact opposite of that. I believe that there are many times throughout the film where they choose to just portray these young girls as objects, and sexualize them, which is totally not feminism. It is even worse that they are such young children too, and that is why it has been considered to be borderline child pornographic. One thing I will say is that they definitely TRIED to get a good message across, and there is a good movie and story in there somewhere, they really just went about it in many wrong ways.
Real Steel (2011)
Real Great
I hate to say it, but I am a little bit biased when it comes to this film, so I have a lot of positive things to say, as I do not think this film got the attention that it deserved. It is such a good combination of the science fiction element of having robots involved, and the sport of boxing. I think that the story itself is not only incredibly original, but is also almost perfectly executed. The CGI is among the best that I have seen in a film, especially one that is nearly ten years old now. The robots look incredibly real, and it really feels like you are watching a boxing match. The action in those boxing matches, which there are plenty of throughout the film, is also very fun, and helps to make for a captivating film. Hugh Jackman does a fantastic job in this film, and the way his character changes for the better over the course of the film is really emotional, and great to see.
Gisaengchung (2019)
Definitely Deserved All of Its Awards
This film is truly an accomplishment in filmmaking. Director Bong Joon Ho starts off with such a simple plot, and manages to turn the film into something really crazy, and quite suspenseful, which I was not expecting at all, especially after having seen the trailer. As for the cast, I don't really know anything about any of them, as I have not seen any of the other films that they have been in, but they all did a fantastic job in their roles. The main cast does a great job at portraying this manipulative family who will do just about anything in order to make a living, while the wealthy family's actors do a great job at portraying these gullible and complacent characters that have no idea about the intentions of the workers that they have just recently hired. One thing that I absolutely loved was the entire plot and how it was executed. I did not realize how crazy this movie would end up getting, I really thought that it was just just going to be drama between two families for much of the film, but it ended up being so much more than that, I loved it. No wonder it won all of the awards that it did, definitely one if the best movies I've seen in a long time.
The Babysitter: Killer Queen (2020)
Not as Good as the First Movie
While this film is inferior to the first, it does have its moments of fun. Much like the first film, one of the things that this movie does really well is comedy. There are some really funny jokes and scenes. However, the new bad guys that are introduced in this film do take away from the humor by being terribly unfunny. Luckily they are killed off fairly quick, so they don't end up being too much of a problem. Another thing that is pretty good, much like the first film, is the CGI and practical effects. Much of the gore and bloodshed in the movie is done through practical effects, and looks realistic for the most part. There is one scene however, where a character has their head ripped off, and it looks painfully fake, and sort of ruins what would have otherwise been a pretty good scene. There are a few glaring flaws with the film too, one of which is the overall plot and its execution. It basically recycles the exact same plot from the first film, and the only real difference is that there are more bad guys this time around. It really shows a lack of creativity, and it can also be really sloppy at times. The film is also directed by McG, who is notoriously known for taking interesting concepts and ideas, and making subpar films out of them.
John Wick (2014)
Impressive Film, But A Bit Overhyped
So this film has been out for about six years now, and ever since the first trailer came out, I had always wanted to see it, because a Keanu Reeves action film is always something worth seeing. I never ended up seeing it in theaters, and always wanted to wait until it came to a streaming service, but it never did, so I decided to rent it yesterday. I do want to say that maybe this film was overhyped for me a little bit, as I have only heard good things about it, so I was a little bit disappointed with the final product. However, this is still a really good movie, and I definitely plan on watching the other two as well. The film has a pretty basic premise, retired hitman John Wick lives alone with his dog, and when some Russian gangsters rob him and murder his dog, he decided to come out of retirement and get revenge.
For a film that was made on a small budget, the cast of this film is stacked, and the choreography and special effects are fantastic. Not only does this movie have Reeves, but it also has Willem Dafoe, Ian McShane, and John Leguizamo, just to name a few. And many could argue that this is the film that started Reeves' career renaissance, which is good because ever since he finished working on The Matrix trilogy, he had a long period of time in which he starred in a lot of mediocre films. So, not only is the acting superb in this film, but like I said before, the special effects and choreography are some of the best that you will see in an action movie. This actually doesn't surprise me because the director of this film, Chad Stahelski, has actually been a stunt director since the early 90s, so he clearly knows what he is doing. He also just does a great job at making a film that is on a twenty million dollar budget, look like a hundred million dollar film. Another thing that the movie does well is it takes the simple generic action movie plot, and makes it really enjoyable. Typically movies that follow this basic premise don't actually end up being all that great, but this movie manages to take that basic premise, and give it it's own unique qualities that separate it from the competition, and that is how it managed to spawn a franchise. Another thing worth pointing out is that this was Stahelski's directorial debut, so I would say that he did a fantastic job.
Overall, I can't say that this was the best action film ever made or anything of that sort. I did come into the film expecting it to be that way based on all of the things that I had heard, but sadly that was not the case. There are a few flaws with this film. One thing I would have liked to see more fleshed out was the story. It is a pretty prominent thing in the first ten minutes of the film, but as soon as the action starts, the story doesn't really matter anymore. There are also a few things that aren't really explained or solved by the end of the film, so that was a little bit annoying. These aren't major things, but if they had been done differently, it still would have made for a better movie.
The New Mutants (2020)
We Waited Several Years For A Sub Par Superhero Movie
I just want to start off by saying that no major motion picture has never had as many production issues as this film did. The New Mutants was supposed to come out over two years ago, ended up being delayed four times, went through extensive reshoots, and then was finally released in the middle of a pandemic. Unfortunately, some of those production issues are both very present, and very noticeable in this film. The basic plot of this film is that it takes place in the X-Men universe, and is about all of these teenagers who have just discovered that they have powers, and they are put in a facility where they are meant to learn to control their newfound abilities. However, something more sinister is afoot at the facility, and it is up to them to figure it out before it is too late.
The one thing that I will say that this film does is that it introduces a fantastic concept. The whole idea for this film is so interesting, and isn't something that we have ever really seen before in the superhero genre. Unfortunately, that is where the production issues come in, because after this interesting idea is introduced, the film turns into a very generic run of the mill action/horror movie, that chooses to make most of its cast unlikeable, and ultimately chooses to have nothing happen until the last half hour of the film. The actors themselves do a good enough job, but their characters are all given these attitudes that make them so unlikeable up until they team up towards the end of the film. The CGI in this movie is also very spotty at times, and the viewer can totally tell which scenes had to go through reshoots, and given how expensive those reshoots were, the final product should have been much better. Also, as I mentioned earlier, there is not much that happens throughout a good portion of the film, the first forty five minutes to an hour are spent having most of the cast arguing and just doing random activities throughout the facility. One other thing that is worth pointing out is the director of this film, Josh Boone. He has only directed two other films, and they were both teen romances, Stuck In Love, and The Fault In Our Stars. The audience can actually see elements of those in this film because a big part of the plot is a love story between two of the characters who meet in the facility. That aspect of the film was particularly well done, however I don't know if it really needed to be included in a superhero horror/action film.
From superhero movie standards, this is not a good movie. It was heavily advertised as a horror movie, despite there being almost no scares, and the action doesn't really come until the end of the film, so the audience is ultimately left watching nothing happen for about seventy five percent of the film. While the acting is good, the characters are made extremely unlikeable, and the special effects are really awful at times. The last half hour of the film does make up for some of the many issues that this film has in the first hour, but it is definitely far from a perfect film. Despite the many flaws this movie has, it still has many enjoyable moments, and I would be really interested to see the route they would take if they ever did make a sequel to it.
Words on Bathroom Walls (2020)
Decent Coming of Age Film, Great Mental Illness Film
I ended up seeing this film over the weekend, not knowing what to expect, as it is one of the few films that I have gone to see without actually seeing the trailer for it prior, and I was very pleasantly surprised. Words on Bathroom Walls is about a boy, Adam, who gets kicked out of his school for wild behavior, and is diagnosed with schizophrenia shortly after that. He transfers to a Cathlolic school and meets a girl, Maya, who helps him out with school work, and also becomes quite close with him. Throughout the film, Adam tries to maintain a relationship with Maya, while also trying to keep his schizophrenia a secret from her, and has to overcome many other challenges along the way.
This film, based on the book that goes by the same name, does a fantastic job at accurately depicting schizophrenia, and all of the complications that come along with it. The film puts the viewers inside of Adam's head for much of the movie, and shows them everything that he hears and sees because of the disease, and really makes the audience think that it is all really there. The actor who plays Adam, Charlie Plummer, also does a fantastic job. The film itself does commit to many of the typical tropes that you would see in a coming of age movie, but it does a much better job than most films do at depicting mental illness. Adams' mom, and step-father, who are played by Molly Parker, and Walton Goggins also do a really great job, delivering some very emotional performances. The thing that surprised me most in this film was the special effects, especially given the film's small budget. A lot of the schizophrenic hallucinations are shown through special effects, and they effectively add a lot of tension and horror elements to the film, which is not something you see very often in a teenage coming of age film. One other thing worth mentioning is the director, Thor Freudenthal, who hadn't really directed any feature films since the early 2010s. Some of his earlier films included, Hotel For Dogs, Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, and Diary of a Wimpy Kid, so I would have to say that this is definitely a significant improvement over his previous works.
Overall, for a typical coming of age film, this movie does a great job at what it is trying to do. Not only is it a good coming of age film, but it also does an amazing job at depicting mental illness, especially one that is as complex as schizophrenia. The entire cast does a great job in their roles, and the story is very compelling. The only real issues that I had with the film, which are very minor problems, would be that there was some poorly timed humor on a few occasions. Other than that though, a very solid film by Freudenthal.
Black Christmas (2019)
It Was Worse Than I Expected, And I Had Low Expectations
There aren't really a lot of good things to say about this movie... The only slightly decent thing the about film was the acting, and even that wasn't all that great at times. This film had A LOT of problems, the first being that it wasn't rated R. The films plot plays out like any typical R rated slasher movie, but for some reason they decided to tone down the violence a lot, making it even more boring than it already was. The pacing of the film is absolutely terrible, and the sorority girls spent over half of the film just screwing around before any of the action and "scares" actually start. Speaking of the scares, it was not scary at all. None of the jump scares work, and the film lacked anything creepy or disturbing. The film also aggressively pushes a feminist agenda, which I personally have nothing against. I just think that if that is the route that you are going to take in a film, you should make sure that the movie is actually good, otherwise you're not really doing yourself any favors. This is probably one of the worst movies that I have ever had to sit through, and it is a complete waste of time and money, don't watch it.
The Lobster (2015)
A Very Odd, Yet Captivating Film
I have known about this movie for quite some time now, but I have always found different reasons to neglect to watch it until now. I always thought that the film looked really weird, which ultimately steered me away from watching it. I finally decided to give it watch, and even though it ended up being far weirder and much darker than I originally expected it to be, I was not pleasantly surprised. The dark humor and extremely cringe-inducing interactions between the characters was incredibly amusing, and was something that you do not see very often in cinema. I also really liked the unique plot of the film, even though it could be confusing at times. The entire cast was great as well, and they all added a lot to the film in their own ways. There were only a few problems that I really had with the film. One being that it was a little long, and really dragged on at times. I think that a few scenes could have been removed to prevent that from happening. The only other issue that I had was the ending. It felt a little bit rushed, and then it ends with a bit of a cliffhanger, which I was not a particularly big fan of. All in all though, it is definitely a film that I would recommend to you if you like original ideas, great acting, and clever dark humor.
In the Tall Grass (2019)
Not Scary, and Extremely Confusing
I just want to start off by saying that this would have been much better if it had been a short film. It does not work as a feature length film, and would have been really good it had been about 15 to 20 minutes long. Now it's time to talk about what the film did well, which wasn't much... The acting was well done by the whole cast, they were all very committed to their performances, and the cinematography and special effects were pretty good as well. That's it. The rest of the movie was bad. The film has a plot similar to movies like Edge of Tomorrow and Groundhog Day, the characters are stuck in an endless time loop, and they have to figure out how to get out of it. It takes quite a while for the viewer figure this out because the storytelling is so poorly done, so you do not really understand what is going on for the first half of the movie. The film doesn't really explain anything to you either, you are just kind of expected to figure everything out for yourself. By the end of the movie you are left with a lot of questions, and very few answers. On top of all of this confusion, the film lacks any scares, which is usually something that you would expect to see in a horror movie. A lot of the scenes that are meant to be "scary" are just confusing, dumb, and weird. I really cannot recommend this movie to anyone, unless you are someone who really likes to stare at tall grass, and hear people scream at each other for an hour and a half.
6 Underground (2019)
What You Have Come To Expect From a Michael Bay Film
If you have ever seen any Michael Bay movie, then you should already know what to expect from this one, lots of action and tons of explosions. This movie looked like it was going to be really good. It had an original idea, it had Ryan Reynolds in it, and it was being produced by Netflix. I truly thought that it had a lot going for it. Unfortunately it was directed by Michael Bay, so there were bound to be some flaws.
This is by no means a terrible movie, and I would have to say that it is actually one of Michael Bay's better films (Which isn't saying much) But it did have its fair share of problems. Most of the cast, including Ryan Reynolds, played very unlikable characters that were mostly one dimensional, and several of them had backstories that were very quickly glossed over. Much of the dialogue was very poorly written, and there were numerous attempts at humor, most of which fell flat. The movie was also two hours, which is the typical length of a film these days, but it felt like it was never going to end at times. This movie also did not need to be rated R, but Bay decided that it would be a good idea to insert horror movie levels of gore in to the film. You get to see all sorts of things like corpses with blown off heads, and limbs get ripped off of people, as well as much more. This was completely unnecessary, and it could have easily been PG-13, while still being pretty much the same exact film. The editing and pacing also really dragged the film down, as is the case in most Michael Bay films, as it is very choppy and poorly done, causing the movie to be extremely hard to follow at times.
There were a few redeeming qualities to the film however. Overall, the acting was fairly good, with a few exceptions. And of course, as you have come to expect from a Michael Bay film, the action set pieces and special effects were superb, and really made the film worth watching. They weren't just the typical action scenes that you would see in a generic film either, some of them were very clever and have not been done before. They made the film a lot more exciting and engaging, so at least it does a good job at keeping the audiences attention. There were a couple jokes that made me smile at times, but like I said previously, most of them fell pretty flat.
This is most definitely a popcorn flick that you should watch with a bunch of your friends on the weekend, and that is what it is meant to be. You are supposed to shut off your brain for two hours and have a good time, and if you can do that, then you will really enjoy this movie. There is a scene in the film that is literally meant to set up potential sequels, and I am interested to see what they end up doing with that if they do decide to make a sequel. They just need to improve on some of those things that I pointed out earlier and they may have something similar to the Fast & Furious franchise on their hands.
February (2015)
Not at all what I expected
I was not sure what to expect going in to this film. I knew almost nothing about it, as it is a relatively small and unknown film, and I had not seen anything about it until it showed up on Netflix one day. This movie is most definitely not for everyone. It has a lot of satanic elements that would make a lot of people uncomfortable, and it is an extremely slow burn that can make this hour and half film feel like three hours at times, and it doesn't really pick up until the last 20-25 minutes. Unlike many people on here, I found the film to be very captivating, as it immediately gives the viewer a feeling of dread, and that dread stays with you throughout the entire film. It does not take the route that many other horror films take, it does not throw constant jump scares and gore at you. The film takes its time to let a very disturbing story develop, and it does a great job at it. The acting by everyone in this film is very superb as well, and that really added a lot to the film. The acting is really what makes the movie as good as it is, because that is a big factor that contributes to the dread. There is also a bit of a plot twist/reveal that you figure out sort of half way, or two thirds of the way through the film that I really liked, and the use of time jumps makes the film work a lot better too. My only big problems with the movie is that it really does feel long at times, and could get a little boring, so I feel as if it could have been a little shorter, and I was not really a big fan of the ending, and I think that could have been done a little bit differently. Overall though, a pretty good film that I would recommend to anyone who is a fan of horror movies.
Jumanji: The Next Level (2019)
Not as good as the first one, but still pretty solid
It is always hard to make a good sequel to a film that was already really good and defied most peoples expectations. Luckily, Jake Kasdan does just that with Jumanji: The Next Level. Just like the first film, this movie has tons of action and lots of laughs, as well as some great performances by the entire cast. It is not quite as good as the first film, as it retreads a lot of the same ideas, and not all of the jokes land, with some of them feeling quite unnecessary. Also, Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart having to act like they are old people does get a little stale after awhile. There are also just a few scenes/ideas in the film that really did not sit well with me, and could have easily been done differently. It sounds like I am just tearing apart the film, but those are really just some minor things that I would have rather seen done differently in the film, and they do not really greatly impact the overall product. In many ways, this film does things better than the first one did. All of the action sequences were very exciting, many of them were on a completely different level than the first film, both in terms of scale and excitement. Another thing that I loved was that these fully grown actors continued to convince me that they really were teenagers that were stuck in these grown up bodies, and that is something that is really hard to do convincingly. Overall, it was a very immersive film that manages to build a strong emotional connection with its characters, as well as improve and build off of many of the ideas that were presented in the first one. The ending also sets up a pretty interesting concept for a potential third film in the series that I would be really intrigued to see.
Marriage Story (2019)
Not as emotional as I thought it would be
When I first saw the trailer for this film it brought tears to my eyes. It seemed to me like it was going to be a roller coaster of emotions, and I really expected it to be one of the best films of the year. Don't get me wrong, it is by no means a bad movie. The acting is without a doubt some of the best that I have seen, and I believe that both Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson deserve Oscar nominations for how well they did in the film. Unfortunately, I personally was not all that affected by their emotional performances, and had a lot of trouble connecting with their characters. I think older audiences, as well as anyone who has been through a divorce will connect with the film a lot more than I did. That was really my big problem with the film, apart from their child being extremely annoying at times. Other than that, the film is very well made, I did not get bored at any point, although I think it could have been 10 minutes shorter. If it were not for the fact that I felt no attachment to the characters, I would likely give this film a much higher review, likely an 8 or a 9, but I just really wasn't feeling it. Still, definitely a great film in every other regard, and I am likely in the minority about how I felt about the characters, so I would recommend giving it a watch so you can form your own opinion on it.